image for Santoyo Brito, Enrique

Santoyo Brito, Enrique

Fluid Collection Specialist
Illinois Natural History Survey

Address and Contact Information

1816 S. Oak St.
M/C 652
Champaign, IL  61820

Research Interests

My research interest revolves around topics of natural history and behavioral ecology of amphibians and reptiles, and my projects involve fieldwork, laboratory work, and fluid-preserved specimens. I have studied herpetofauna diversity (at all three levels), sociality (parental care and group living), predator avoidance (solitary vs grouped individuals), and diverse effects constant incubation temperature has on lizard hatchlings (sex ratio and sex reversal). Recently, I have focused my research efforts on studying how climate change has affected lizard communities and populations (composition, activity patterns, and body size). I have led research in Mexico, the USA, and Chile, and currently maintain collaborations in all three countries. 

Apart from my research, I am also passionate about curating and managing Biological or Natural History Collections. Currently, I manage and help curate over 1.3 million specimens preserved across five representative Biological Collections at INHS - Fish, Crustaceans, Amphibians & Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals. I often utilize wet-preserved specimens and their associated data to study reptile natural history and ecology.

Honors and Awards

Selected Publications

  • Santoyo-Brito, E., S. Perea-Fox, H. Núñez, and S. F. Fox. 2021. Maternal care and secretive behavior of neonates in the highly social lizard Liolaemus leopardinus (Squamata: Liolaemidae) from the central Chilean Andes may relate to size-specific bird predation. Behaviour, 158 (2021) 195–223. 

  • Santoyo-Brito, E., H. Núñez, W. E. Cooper, Jr., and S. F. Fox. 2020. Comparison of escape behavior between solitary and grouped Liolaemus leopardinus lizards from the central Chilean Andes. Herpetologica, 76: 285–289.

  • Wiggins, J. M., Santoyo-Brito, E., Scales, J. B., and S. Fox. 2020. Gene dose indicates presence of sex chromosomes in Collared Lizards (Crotaphytus collaris), a species with Temperature-Influenced Sex Determination. Herpetologica, 76(1), 2020, 27-30.

  • Santoyo-Brito, E., H. Núñez, and S. Fox. 2018. Age estimation through skeletochronology and mark-recapture of free-living individuals in a population of a high-elevation, viviparous lizard from Chile, Liolaemus leopardinus. Phyllomedusa 17(1):101-112.

  • Santoyo-Brito, E., S. Fox, and H. Núñez. 2017. Experimental evidence for embryo retention in the high-elevation Chilean lizard Liolaemus leopardinus. Phyllomedusa 16(2): 295-298.

  • Santoyo-Brito, E., S. Fox, and M. Anderson. 2017. Sex ratio according to incubation temperatures in the Collared Lizard, Crotaphytus collaris. Journal of Herpetology, 51(2):197-201

Leadership Positions

INHS Biological Collections representative for The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC).

Links

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